In the gardai's Northern Division in Dublin, the suicides of three young men are also being attributed to the fear of beatings or being shot by drug dealers to whom they owe money.
One of them hanged himself after being told he was going to be beaten for a minor debt for cannabis. It is understood that even after he died his family was warned that they had inherited the debt and had to pay it off.
A senior garda source in Dublin said that gardai were very aware of the problem but there was nothing they could do unless the young people under threat came to them.
"We can help them, but they are too frightened. These people [the dealers] have whole communities living in fear," the source said.
He said that gardai knew of cases where families were having to go to the credit union to pay off drug debts owed by their children.
He added that the street dealers were themselves coming under pressure from the bigger dealers to make prompt payments for drugs, and the street dealers, who are often only 17- or 18-years-old, were increasingly using violence to collect debts.
One source said that in the north inner city, a 17-year-old girl dealer had openly threatened a young man with drug debts, shouting at him that he would get a "bullet" if he didn't pay up -- after kicking him and spitting in his face. The youth, much taller than the girl, was terrified.
The family of a teenage boy who died last month appealed to other parents to watch carefully over their sons and daughters if they began to show signs of anxiety.
The family asked that they not be identified and, although they did not say so, it was evident they feared violence if they spoke publicly.
The boy's mother said: "I ask other mothers and fathers to be very careful. [Naming her son] was very anxious. He wouldn't say what the matter was. We asked him. He was very afraid.
"He changed completely. [The boy's name] was very outgoing, but he changed. He wasn't himself. The last couple of weeks he was very anxious, very anxious. People need to be aware that this is going on across this city." They are still waiting to find out how their son died. It could be months before post mortem and toxicology results are known.
Garda sources said last week that, despite warnings that the flow of heroin into the country was increasing, little work had been done in preparation for tackling the spread of the drug right throughout the country.
In Wexford, Labour Councillor David Byrne said that as the problem of addiction was spreading, the Government was cutting back on money for treatment centres.
In Wexford the two centres providing counselling and help with detoxification both had the budgets they receive from the Government's Drugs Taskforce quango cut by around 40 per cent.
"There are hundreds of addicts here. We reckon in the past couple of years cocaine use has gone up by 60 per cent and heroin addiction has grown by at least 50 per cent. These are only guesses, but the situation is horrific. There is no methadone, which could help at least stabilise the problem for some of the people."
The Cornmarket Project in Wexford, for which Counsillor Byrne works, had its 2009 budget cut by more than €45,000. He said that, since the introduction of the 2001 Mental Health Act, it had become impossible to get people taken into psychiatric wards unless they displayed symptoms like self-harm or threatened suicide.
"The legislation needs to be looked at. The health boards should be working to help this problem, but unless people present with psychiatric problems they can't be admitted for treatment."
Few addicts could afford treatment and counselling provided by private clinics.
He said he was aware that young addicts were coming under severe pressure from dealers and were being driven to commit crime to raise money for drugs.
"If the Government were any way serious, it would do something. It has been told over and over again."
Source: Jim Cusack, The Irish Independent, 04/01/2009
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
